Evaluation of protein quality raw and fermented tomato pomace compared to soybean meal in broiler chickens

This experiment was conducted to determine the chemical composition and evaluation of protein quality raw tomato pomace (RTP) and fermented tomato pomace (FTP) in broiler chickens. The amount of dry matter, fiber and crude protein in RTP were changed from 92.96, 35.13 and 14.35 to 91.40, 30.16 and 15.54% in FTP, respectively. Lactic acid bacteria population (log10 CFU/g) in RTP was changed from 7.53 to 14.85 in FTP. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four treatments including nitrogen-free diet, soybean meal, RTP and FTP as semi-pure diets on broiler chickens. Protein efficiency ratio (PER), net protein ratio (NPR), feed efficiency and weight gains chickens were investigated. The results showed that the PER at 14 and 17 and the whole period for FTP was 2.69, 2.72 and 2.70, for RTP 2.36, 2.03 and 2.24, and for soybean meal 3.06, 3.26 and 3.13, respectively. NPR for FTP was 3.84, 3.76 and 3.82, for RTP was 3.47, 2.92 and 3.28, and for soybean meal 4.03, 3.99 and 4.02, respectively. Although weight gain and feed efficiency in chicks fed with FTP was lower than soybean meal, but these values were higher than the RTP (P <0.05). Therefore, due to the improvement in the quality protein FTP, it can be used to feed broiler chickens.